User blog:Gameshowguy2000/When is a scandal not a scandal?
Most, if not all of us, remember Caitlin Burke's one-letter solve of "I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS" from November 5, 2010 (yes, the night of the Charlie O'Donnell tribute). Well, out of all the videos of this particular puzzle posted on YouTube...there is one that is titled "Wheel of Fortune Scandal...lady solves 27 letter puzzle with just one letter". I have a problem with that video's title...particularly one keyword, that being SCANDAL, which freaks me out as well as a bunch of other game show fans here. Now, when we think of this kind of word, it harkens us back to the Quiz Show Scandals of the 50s and 60s...where the contestants were given the answers to the questions ahead of time, and were even told how to answer the questions (remember when Herbert Stempel knew that "Marty" was the movie that won Best Picture Oscar in 1955, and he was told to answer "On the Waterfront", which won the same award a year earlier in 1954?). And that led to something called Standards and Practices...which regulates game shows and has continued to do so since the scandals. One particular thing they do is to ensure that no contestants have any advance knowledge of the material used on the show...and yes, that includes Mr. Ben Stein of "Win Ben Stein's Money", where the co-host (be it Jimmy Kimmel, Nancy Pimental, or Sal Iacono) informs us home viewers, that going into Round 2 where he challenges the remaining two contestants to defend whatever remains of his $5,000 stash that he puts up at the top of his show, that "from this point forward, Ben has absolutely no advance knowledge of any of the questions to be asked"; as well as prior to the bonus round of "The Best of 10 Test of Knowledge", where the champion (who keeps all the money won in the first two rounds) challenges Ben in a head-to-head trivia shootout featuring two isolation booths (the winner's is bare, Ben's is lavish) to see who can answer more questions right out of 10 (they both get the same 10 questions). If they answer more questions right than Ben, they get all $5,000 of his cash; if he gets more right than they do, they only get the money from the front game; and if they tie, he gives them an extra $1,000 on top of the front game cash. Since this involves isolation booths, like the Quiz Show Scandals, whoever goes second has to wear headphones so as to not hear the other person's answers. This also applies to "Fast Money" on "Family Feud"--whoever goes second sits in an isolation booth and wears headphones so as to not hear their partner's answers to the 5 survey questions posed; per the rules, should they duplicate one of those answers, they will hear a double-buzz and the host will say "Try again" and they must give another answer (simple enough, though to accomodate that, they get 5 seconds more than the first player to answer the questions). Rules like these ensure fair competitions. Now, going back to said video...if this WERE even a scandal and she was told to solve that puzzle with just that one letter of L (thankfully she was never told this in advance)...Pat, Vanna, Harry, and the rest of the staff would ALL be out of a job, let alone be IN JAIL! Yes, that is what happened after the Quiz Show Scandals...Jack Barry, Dan Enright, and several other people were out of a job and even landed in jail, though the American public was willing to give Jack another chance when he hosted The Joker's Wild on CBS and in syndication...with the Standards and Practices in place. In addition to not being allowed any access to the material ahead of time, contestants were always accompanied EVERYWHERE, even the restrooms. So before anyone even tries to suggest that shows like Wheel are rigged for this kind of solve, or Jeopardy! because of Ken Jennings losing on his 75th show (which I thought initially, but then I realized that it was just plain luck that Nancy Zerg, who beat him, got the Final Jeopardy! question right and he got it wrong), or EVEN that perfect Showcase bid on The Price Is Right from December 16, 2008 (just because he saw some of those prizes before) or even the two Million Dollar Spectaculars from May 2003 when in the Showcase Showdown the Big Wheel just stopped short of the $1.00 space (in fact, that arrow was nestled against the top peg of that 5¢ space when it stopped, so those two Bonus Spins awarded $5,000 more; for $6,000 total when you tack on that $1,000 from the first spin{s}), or EVEN Michael Larsen's Big Board memorization on Press Your Luck which propelled him to $110,237 in cash and prizes (just by taping the show and watching the patterns), or EVEN Watson toppling Ken and Million Dollar Masters and Ultimate Tournament of Champions winner Brad Rutter (all because Watson was just a plain ol' super-computer); remember these three words: STANDARDS (1) AND (2) PRACTICES (3)! They are the reason why game shows have been running for so long after the scandals! In fact, I suggest you buy or rent or borrow (from your local library) the movie Quiz Show and watch it to see what I mean. And for those who want to see the video, here it is. "Possibly cheated on the show. Now under investigation." appears in the description. I have one thing to say about that description--AS IF! If she AND the show were under investigation for something like this, wouldn't we see a repeat of the investigations of the quiz show scandals? (And yes, that was featured in Quiz Show, with Stempel, Van Doren, and Enright all testifying) And wouldn't the show be AXED by this point? And wouldn't Harry, Pat, Vanna, and the rest of the staff end up IN JAIL (like the scandals)? Whoever thought this up has, again, NEVER HEARD OF STANDARDS AND PRACTICES! All of us game show fans know what they are...and even some people who aren't game show fans know what they are. OK, I've shared MY thoughts, now share YOURS! Gameshowguy2000 (talk) 05:43, October 27, 2013 (UTC) Category:Blog posts